A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud held that House speaker's decision to appoint Bharat Gogawale of the Shinde faction as the whip of Shiv Sena was "illegal"
"The governor was not justified in calling upon Thackeray to prove his majority on the floor of the House because he did not have reasons based on objective material before him to reach the conclusion that Thackeray had lost the confidence of the House," said the bench which also comprised Justices M R Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and P S Narasimha.
"However, the status quo ante can't be restored because Thackeray did not face the floor test and tendered his resignation. The governor was, therefore, justified in inviting Shinde to form the government at the behest of the BJP which was the largest political party in the house," it said.
The top court also referred the 2016 Nabam Rebia verdict by a five-judge constitution bench, which relates to the power of speaker on disqualification of MLAs, to a larger bench of seven judges.
Addressing a news conference shortly after the Supreme Court delivered its verdict in last year's Shiv Sena-centric political crisis in the state, Thackeray also slammed the then governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for calling upon him for the floor test.
"Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should resign on moral grounds like I did," Thackeray said.
Thackeray said Speaker Rahul Narwekar has to consider Sunil Prabhu as the whip of his Shiv Sena while deciding on the disqualification of 16 rebel MLAs.
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